NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 23 April 2011

Upon wake-up, FE-2 Borisenko performed the regular daily check of the aerosol filters at the Russian Elektron O2 (oxygen) generator. [Maxim Suraev installed these filters on 10/19/09 in gaps between the BZh Liquid Unit and the oxygen outlet pipe (filter FA-K) plus hydrogen outlet pipe (filter FA-V). Andrey inspects the filters again before bedtime tonight, currently a daily requirement per plan, with photographs to be taken if the filter packing is discolored.]

The crew joined in conducting the regular weekly three-hour task of thorough cleaning of their home, including COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory) and Kibo JPM (JEM Pressurized Module). ["Uborka", usually done on Saturdays, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, damp cleaning of the SM (Service Module) dining table, other frequently touched surfaces and surfaces where trash is collected, as well as the sleep stations with a standard cleaning solution; also, fan screens and grilles are cleaned to avoid temperature rises. Special cleaning is also done every 90 days on the HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) bacteria filters in the Lab.]

As part of the uborka house cleaning, CDR, FE-1 & FE-2 completed regular maintenance inspection & cleaning of fan screens in the FGB (TsV2) plus Group E fan grilles (VPkhO, FS5, FS6, VP) in the SM (Service Module) and the weekly checkup on the Russian POTOK-150MK (150 micron) air filter unit of the SM's & FGB's SOGS air revitalization subsystem, gathering weekly data on total operating time & "On" durations for reporting to TsUP.

Dmitri & Andrey had another 2 hrs blocked out to continue their IFM (In-flight Maintenance) work making preparations for modifying the SSVP StA Passive Docking Assembly in the SM PkhO (Transfer Compartment) hatch. [Steps included setting up for reducing the overall diameter of the flat cover by cutting with a Makita battery-driven jigsaw and drill, plus removing the cover, jacket & outer shell of the PkhO hatch door for the cutting procedure. The work will be continued on 4/25 & 4/27.]

For their 2-hr VolSci (Voluntary Weekend Science) program FE-6 Coleman & FE-3 Garan, in their free time, video-recorded a 2 hr demo session for the EPO (Education Payload Operation) program "Eye in the Sky", using the Cupola in Node-3 to illustrate to 5th-12th grade students the many phenomena uniquely observable from the ISS. [The MPC (Multi-Protocol Converter) was used for the HD (high definition) TV downlink.]

Later, Cady Coleman had an hour (plus more as a discretionary "job jar" task) for relabeling stowage racks for new US-allocated stowage in the COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory) at loc. F2, in the Lab (O5) and PMM (Permanent Multipurpose Module). [The labels were individually cut out from an uplinked spreadsheet and attached to the racks with plastic holder or grey tape.]

FE-5 Paolo Nespoli meanwhile worked in the Lab on ER8 (EXPRESS Rack 8), installing the ALTEA (Anomalous Long Term Effects on Astronauts) Shield isotropic equipment, using the ER2 laptop. [ALTEA-Shield isotropic dosimetry uses existing ALTEA (Anomalous Long Term Effects on Astronauts) hardware to survey the radiation environment in the US Lab in 3D. It also measures the effectiveness and shielding properties of several materials with respect to the perception of anomalous Light Flashes.]

Shortly before his sleeptime, Borisenko will start charging the battery for the KPT-2 BAR TTM-2 anemometer/thermometer. [Objective of the Russian BAR-EXPERT science payload is to measure environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, air flow rate) and module shell surface temperatures behind SM panels and other areas susceptible to possible micro-destruction (corrosion), before and after insolation (day vs. night). The payload uses a remote infrared thermometer (Kelvin-Video), a thermohygrometer (Iva-6A), a heat-loss anemometer/thermometer (TTM-2) and an ultrasound analyzer (AU) to determine environmental data in specific locations and at specific times. Activities include documentary photography with the NIKON D2X camera and flash.]

CDR Kondratyev worked in the SM on the TVIS treadmill, which is currently No Go, inspecting its hardware for visible damage. [After detailed data review, TVIS specialists confirmed yesterday that the gyroscope was powered but not rotating. The problem is most likely the gyroscope itself. Dmitri today was to inspect the gyro wire ropes, blue bumpers, and the VIS (Vibration Isolation System) power connections to see if they are contributors. The last failure of the gyro had a similar signature and was resolved by the crew wiggling the gyro to clear any obstruction in the bearing. Dima was to repeat this step to attempt to resolve this latest issue.]

Ron Garan had ~30min set aside to complete unpacking US cargo delivered on Soyuz 26S.

At ~8:45am EDT, the six crewmembers held the regular WPC (Weekly Planning Conference) with the ground, discussing next week's "Look-Ahead Plan" (prepared jointly by MCC-H and TsUP-Moscow timeline planners), via S-band/audio, reviewing upcoming activities and any concerns about future on-orbit events.

At ~10:40am, Kondratyev, Samokutyayev & Borisenko downlinked messages of greetings and well-wishing to three Russian PAO TV events, viz. to -
* Participants of the 2011 contest "Teacher of the Year in Moscow" [On 4/25 during a ceremony in Moscow's Crocus City Hall the name of absolute winner of the contest "Teacher of the Year in Moscow - 2011", selected from five finalists, will be announced],
* Participants of the 3rd Russian International Congress on Intellectual Transportation Systems [The 3rd Russian International Congress on Intellectual Transportation Systems, devoted to the 50-th Anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's space flight will take place at the A.S. Popov Central Museum of Communications, in St Petersburg from 5/17-20, 2011. Among the Congress participants are official delegations from Great Britain, Italy, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Japan and Taiwan], and to the
* Participants of the "White Sun of the Desert" International Festival of Song-Writer Clubs Man-Earth-Universe, dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of Y. A. Gagarin's Flight to Space. ["White Sun of the Desert" is the famous film from Soviet times about the Bolshevist October Revolution in 1917 which all cosmonauts since Gagarin's flight traditionally view jointly on the eve before their launch, one of numerous treasured luck-bringing rituals of the Baikonur launch scene.]

ALTCRISS (Alteino Long Term monitoring of Cosmic Rays on the ISS): Complete.

ALTEA SHIELD (NASA/ASI): No report.

AMS-02 (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer): "AMS Laptop: Issues with downlink were traced to the MSFC-AMS interface and were resolved late on 4/14. Daily commanding and weekly downlinks are progressing nicely. The laptop had a "moment" on 4/17 and required power cycling; the origin is still undetermined. Thanks for your assistance."

BXF-Facility (Boiling eXperiment Facility, NASA): Last week, sensors in the BXF system began generating unexpected readings, and the BXF system placed itself in a safe-state condition. Monitoring was able to continue. Initial troubleshooting results were disappointing, and MSG removed power from the BXF. The ops team is conducting an analysis of downloaded experiment housekeeping and science data has identified several potential causes. As part of their trouble shooting, they have categorized these potential causes as "likely," "credible," or "not likely." A plan is being developed to power up the MSG and investigate the causes and current state of the BXF hardware. These plans will be submitted as OCR's and, pending approval, will be implemented.

DECLIC-ALI (Device for the Study of Critical Liquids & Crystallization-ALICE-like, CNES/NASA): No report.

DomeGene (JAXA): Complete.

DOSIS (Dose Distribution Inside ISS, ESA): Acquiring science data with DOSTEL-2 detector. Monthly data downlink performed on 4/19 has confirmed good science acquisition with the DOSTEL-2 unit. "Ron, thank you for your help in troubleshooting the DDPU; unfortunately no joy, we will have to scratch our heads."

EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students): No report.

GEOFLOW (ESA): On-going operations, however impacted by 3 anomalies over the last couple of weeks: 1) Experiment Container PID control is skipping some experimental set-points; 2) FSL encountered some TEC power board trip; 3) problem with the Experiment Container Rotating Tray (belt slipping). These anomalies restrict the parameter ranges (Delta T, rotation speed) to perform science runs for the moment. However, the experiment program is proceeding with 3 Low Rotation runs this week. Science measurements (interferogram images and micro-g levels) have been downlinked and analyzed by the science team. Operations teams got their GO to erase the recorded data from the FSL HDD, and continue science acquisition next week.

HAIR (JAXA): No report.

HDTV System (JAXA): Was delivered by HTV1.

Hicari (JAXA): In preparation for Hicari, the Kobairo GHF experiment checkout was completed on 4/21.

Holter ECG (JAXA): No report.

HQPC (JAXA): Was delivered by 34P.

HREP (HICO/Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean & RAIDS/Remote Atmospheric & Ionospheric Detection System/JAXA): HICO has taken 2975 images to date. The most recent HICO images taken include the north east coast of Australia, the coast of New Zealand and a desert in Namibia. RAIDS is collecting secondary science including nighttime atmospheric disk photometry, spectra and temperatures. Extreme Ultra Violet airglow spectroscopy and optical contamination studies are also being performed.

IMMUNO (Neuroendocrine & Immune Responses in Humans During & After Long Term Stay at ISS): Complete.

INTEGRATED IMMUNE: No report.

InSPACE-2 (Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions 2): No report.

IRIS (Image Reversal in Space, CSA): No report.

ISS Amateur/Ham Radio: The crew of Nespoli, Coleman and Kondratyev have completed more ham events than any other flown crew team. They have also talked with students from 14 different countries (Italy, Japan, Russia, USA, Canada, Poland, Germany, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, India and Argentina).
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IV Gen (Intravenous Fluids Generation): No report.

MDCA/Flex: On 4/18, two test points were successfully performed with three counting towards the science matrix (one test point was skipped). The test points were performed with methanol fuel at a 0.7 atm chamber environment of 24% O2, 20% CO2, and 56% N2. Not much methanol fuel was remaining, which can lead to air bubbles in the droplets. We anticipated that we would run out of methanol fuel during these test points. * Test #1 - Droplet diameter of 4 mm. The droplet size did not appear to change much while dispensing. We got a gas bubble in the droplet, but moving the needles got rid of it. The droplet deployed and ignited with almost no residual motion. The droplet burned for a LONG time (~40 sec). Extinction was diffusive with no disruption. * Test #2 - Droplet diameter of 3 mm. Fuel and droplet looked clear. Droplet drifted. Once again, extinction was diffusive with no disruption. We attempted one more test, but ran out of fuel before we could get even a minimally sized droplet. On GMT 110, five test points were successfully performed. Two test points were performed with heptane fuel at a 0.7 atm chamber environment of 23% O2, 25% CO2, and 52% N2. * Test #3 - Droplet diameter of 4 mm. Deployment and ignition of fuel droplet was good. Droplet had minimal drift. Extinction was radiative with a post-combustion "cloud." We have seen this aerosol cloud of condensed fuel vapor after flame extinction with heptane fuel before in previous tests. * Test #4 - Droplet diameter of 2.5 mm. Again, good deployment and ignition with minimal drift. Extinction was diffusive, characterized by a rapid flame contraction and perhaps a disruptive event. There was no post-combustion "cloud." Three test points were performed with heptane fuel at a 1.0 atm chamber environment of 19% O2, 10% CO2, & 71% N2. * Test #5 - Droplet diameter of 4 mm. Deployment and ignition of fuel droplet was good. Droplet had minimal drift. Extinction was radiative with a post-combustion "cloud" similar to Test #3. * Test #6 - Droplet diameter of 3 mm. Same as Test #5. * Test #7 - Droplet diameter of 2 mm. Again, good deployment and ignition with minimal drift. Extinction was diffusive similar to Test #4.
Radiative Extinction - Flame extinction caused by excessive radiative energy loss from the flame; occurs at relatively larger droplet and flame sizes
Diffusive Extinction - Flame extinction caused by an insufficient time for fuel and oxygen to react; occurs at relatively smaller droplet and flame sizes.

MISSE-7 (Materials ISS Experiment): MISSE-7 is operating nominally except for PEC B which is powered off and awaiting retrieval during STS-134. The CMOS Imager Experiment is testing the radiation effects on a CMOS based imager chip. An image will be downloaded over the next two weeks to examine in detail the nature of radiation degradation. The SpaceCube experiment has the ability to be reconfigured from the ground with updated code and the process of uploading new radiation hardening by software experiment algorithms is in progress. About 40% of the file uploads are complete and the remaining uploads will be spread out over at least another month.

PADLES (JAXA, Area PADLES 3/4; Passive Area Dosimeter for Lifescience Experiment in Space): No report.

PASSAGES (JAXA): "Dear Cady, Paolo and Ron, we would like to thank you for successfully accomplishing your PASSAGES sessions this week. Paolo, it was great to watch you explain the experiment to Ron. On the erratic software behaviour during your session: teams on ground have some ideas why it happened, but need a bit more time to conclude. It looks like all the science data was downlinked successfully, now we are waiting from the feedback from the science team. Again, many thanks for your cooperation to this experiment!"

SLAMMD (Space Linear Acceleration Mass Measurement Device): "Cady, Paolo, and Ron - the SLAMMD Control Run and Body Mass Measurements are always much appreciated by the science teams and PIs. Your next BMMs will be in about one month."

SOLAR (Solar Monitoring Observatory): Out of Sun Visibility Window. Weekly calibration of SOLSPEC was nominally performed on 4/20.

SOLO (Sodium Loading in Microgravity): No report.

Space-DRUMS (Space Dynamically Responding Ultrasonic Matrix System): Maintenance operation - battery charging - was performed successfully. A circuit breaker was tripped (on locker 7 of ER5) during manipulation of the Material Handling System (a robotic arm internal to the payload). The payload is in a safe configuration, and will cause no issues for any activities.

SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellite): Thanks to Cady, the SPHERES beacons are installed in the JEM. We will be ready to support Test Sessions starting in Week 7.

SPHINX (SPaceflight of Huvec: an Integrated eXperiment, ESA): No report.

SPICE (Smoke Point In Co-flow Experiment): No report.

SPINAL (Spinal Elongation): No report.

SWAB (Characterization of Microorganisms & Allergens in Spacecraft): No report.

TASTE IN SPACE (ESA): No report.

THERMOLAB (ESA): "Dear Ron, congratulations for your first combined VO2Max / THERMOLAB session. Downlinked data looks complete, now we are waiting for the feedback of the science team."

TRAC (Test of Reaction & Adaptation Capabilities): Planned.

TRIPLELUX-B (ESA): No report.

ULTRASOUND: Planned.

VASCULAR (CSA): "Thank you, Cady, for completing your second blood draw. The team is looking forward to welcoming you back on your first day in Houston."

VCAM (Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Module, NASA): No report.

VESSEL ID System (ESA): Acquiring science data with NorAIS receiver.

VESSEL IMAGING (ESA): No sessions possible due to Ultrasound anomaly.

VO2max (NASA): "Cady, the team looks forward to your final VO2max session next week! Ron, great job with your first VO2max session on Thursday! Thank you for the help with troubleshooting. All the data was received on the ground and analysis will begin soon. Be sure and mark your name on the new Subject Kit with the good TFM Insert, as you will use this one for the rest of your sessions. Your next session will be in about a month."

VLE (Video Lessons ESA): No report.

WAICO #1/#2 (Waving and Coiling of Arabidopsis Roots at Different g-levels; ESA): No report.

YEAST B (ESA): No report.

CEO (Crew Earth Observation): For Increment 27 through 4/19, 7,797 ISS CEO frames were received on the ground for review and cataloging. "We are pleased to report your acquisition of the following targets with times corresponding to ones of our daily CEO Target Request lists: Gaborone, Botswana - several well-composed frames with minimal cloud cover - requirements for this target are met - will now be removed from our target lists; and Juan de Nova Island, Mozambique Channel - very nice, cloud-free, high-resolution series of this target - they are now under further review for completion of requirements. We are noting, with growing interest, your developing skills and techniques in photographing cities at night. Many fine views are now under evaluation, as time permits. Your surreal view of the Bassas da India atoll in the Indian Ocean was published this past weekend in NASA/GFSC's Earth Observatory website. The pervasive presence of sun glint in your image highlights significant differences in the color, composition and surface conditions between the waters of the lagoon's atoll and its surrounding open sea. Thanks for acquiring and sharing this special and wondrous view of our Earth!"

CEO targets uplinked for today were Juan de Nova Island, Madagascar (the target requestor is being asked for a response to the crew's many recent images. The crew had an opportunity to acquire an entirely cloud free image with the long lens. Looking right), Mumbai, India Aerosol (looking right for long oblique images to capture smog haze in the atmosphere. Smog moves into the Arabian Sea from the region of the megacity Mumbai. Trying to capture any edges/margins of the smog blanket, and including the shoreline of India in some images [to help orient images] Oblique view angles, the sea as backdrop, and the lower sun angle on this pass all help to reveal aerosol loadings in the atmosphere), Namibia floods (Dynamic event. Look righting for the mouth of the Kuiseb River, whose floods are reaching the sea, a once-in-decades event. This is the largest flood since the 1934 flood presently running in one of Namibia's largest rivers. Visual cues are a mass of brown water entering the Atlantic Ocean and the long spit of land at Walvis Bay at the Kuiseb delta. The town of Walvis Bay is being sandbagged against the rising water), Etosha Pan--floods in glint (Dynamic event. Looking left to capture the extent of the flooding in the large dry lake known as Etosha Pan. Left of track the pan appeared in partial glint, ideal for imaging water surfaces. Rivers draining from the north are flooding, inundating the northern parts of the drylake, with the entire lake expected to be filled within a few weeks. This is a rare event for semi-arid northern Namibia, where unusual rains have occurred for the last many weeks), and Port au Prince, Haiti (looking left for this capital city which lies at the head of a long bay).